Amanda Love “The Barefoot Cook”

Amanda Love's Cooking

Delicious, Healthy Seasonal Recipes from the

"The Barefoot Cook"

Cleansing Spring Soup-Salad

This is one of my favorite things to make when I feel the need to eat lighter and cleanse. It is not only delicious, but also easy to digest. You will basically be putting your salad in the blender and blending it up till smooth and then drinking as if you were drinking a soup. I normally eat it cold, but you could also add hot liquid to make it hot or warm it up in a pan for a few minutes.

The idea is to get lots of enzymes and veggies in your system in an easy to digest way. Salads traditionally take a long time to eat - all that chewing and crunching. A soup salad can be eaten much quicker and you can eat twice the amount as a regular salad, but in one sitting!

Spring is the ideal time to cleanse after the heavy, cold winter (not that we get much of a winter around these parts). But still, we tend to stay indoors more, not be as active and maybe eat a little heavier. This recipe will help shed those extra few pounds if eaten regularly and will also give you the extra benefit of giving you tons of energy! If you plan on doing a cleanse, this would be a great thing to incorporate into your cleanse as it will fill you up, but also cleanse your body at the same time.

Ingredients:

1 head of lettuce or 1 bunch of spinach or any other fresh greens of choice (winter greens don’t really make the best tasting soup salad)

1 carrot – cut into large chunks

1 celery rib – cut into large chunks

½ - 1 avocado

1 tomato – cut into chunks

½ cucumber

2-3 scallions – chopped into large chunks

1-2 Tablespoons organic, cold pressed, extra virgin Olive Oil

1-2 Tablespoons Umeboshi Plum Vinegar (or vinegar of choice)

1 Tablespoon Cumin

1 Tablespoon Coriander

¼ teaspoon cayeene (optional)

Dash of salt and pepper

1 clove of garlic (optional)

2-4 cups of water or veggie or chicken broth

½ - 1 cup yogurt or kefir (optional)

Instructions:

Simply place all ingredients in blender. It works a little better if you place the larger items in first and then the greens. Add water or broth, spices, oil and vinegar and blend. Adjust seasonings and blend till smooth and creamy. My soup salads always taste different depending on the veggies and spices I use. This is delicious eaten alone or with other dishes. Enjoy!